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Official Journal of the American Union of Swedish Singers
(USPS 368-840)
Vol. LXXIV CHICAGO, ILL., FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1980 No. 2-3
The Caribbean Cruise in Retrospect
If you are an armchair traveler we
invite you to ta\e the Caribbean cruise
with us on the "Happy Ship" Boheme.
- EDITOR.
THE ALARM CLOCK began to hol-ler
at the ungodly hour of 5 o'clock in
the morning of January 26. This in order
to be at O'Hare Field, Chicago, about 8
o'clock. In the meantime 1 had to fix the
bed, shave and clean up, get breakfast,
last minute packing, etc. Then pick up
a passenger, drive to the West side and
park the car for a week. It was a raw,
bitter cold morning.
This procedure had been arranged by
my cabin mate to be, Ernie Edwalds,
second basso in the Chicago Sw. Male
Chorus, who stayed over night at his son-in-
law's house. There we were treated
to coffee and toast before we were taken
to O'Hare.
The other passenger? That's a story
in itself. Paul Haglund, AUSS treasurer,
was supposed to go on the cruise, but got
sick and had to cancel his cabin the day
before. Across the street from me lives
Mrs. Helen Wcnnerstrand, widow of the
well known soloist, Werner Wenner-strand.
When she heard there was a
cabin open, she snapped her fingers in
decision, called up Nelson World Travel,
sjot Paul's cabin, packed up and was
ready to be picked up in the morning.
Saving us a penalty.
At the airport we met some 16 fellow
travelers from Chicagoland and headed
for the 747 plane of the Northwest Air-lines.
Boy, what a long walk. Loaded
with baggage! O'Hare might be the
busiest airport in the world, but its ac-commodations
arc not too modern. You
have to walk and that's it. And it would
be our luck that our plane had been
shifted to the International airport. Oh,
for i^ood old Copenhagen -- they have
moving carpets!
INSIDE the plane was like an over-sized
cold storage. The doors were wide
open for loading purposes and the pas-sengers
froze their fringes. All available
blankets were in use. Since I wore a top
A SEAFARING
TALE
of
Stouthearted Men
and Women
By re Olde Scribe
coat I wrapped Ernie in my blanket, too.
He looked like a eunuch! After awhile
he complained about his seat, he was sit-ting
on something bulky. He stood up,
I felt his seat but there was nothing there.
He sat down — same thing! He stood up
again, felt around and came up with a
foolish grin. He had a pint in his rear
trouser pocket. We got warm in a hurry!
It reminded me of a sign in a Mexican
restaurant: "Chili today—Hot tamala."
Soon we were airborne and warmth
prevailed in a few minutes. It was rather
rough and turbulent, even at 37,000 feet
up. After a very severe jolt Ernie quip-ped,
"I hope we don't run into an ice-berg."
Miami lay down there bathing in sun-shine,
a beautiful sight. It was in the
80's when we landed. The Commodore
Ship Line met us with a bus, which took
us to the gleaming white cruise ship
Boheme, which was to be our home for
a week. Everybody disappeared in search
of their cabins, where our luggage al-ready
had been deposited.
BEFORE we talk about the first day
aboard, it might be well to let you know
a little about the trials and tribulations
the Nelson World Travel had to go
through before the cruise was consum-mated.
Originally the cruise was arranged
with the Italian Line's ship, the "Galilei."
Then word came that this ship would re-main
in the Mediterranean and that
"Marconi" would take over the cruise
from Port Everglades and touch at three
ports. Then came the news that only two
ports would be visited. Later the official
news came that the Italian government
had cancelled the cruise for financial
reasons!
This situation would be enough to
send any travel agent to the hospital.
But Martin and Don Ahlm didn't give
up the ship. Through pertinent and dili-gent
correspondence a solution to the
dilemma was found. Otherwise the cruise
would have been cancelled.
The final result of the negotiations be-came
very favorable to the AUSS travel'
ers in that the passenger list was taken
over by the German Commodore Line,
whose ship Boheme sailed from Miami
on the original date. Boheme, being a
more luxurious ship, also was more exx
pensive, but the Line agreed to absorb
the difference in price. Not only that —
the Boheme called on four ports instead
of two. This solution speaks well of the
efficiency of the Nelson World Travel.
Aboard the Boheme
AFTER unpacking everybody scram-bled
up on deck to see the Boheme cast
off and begin the journey to Puerto Plata,
Dominican Republic. While waiting,
sandwiches were served on the aft deck,
where the swimming pool was located.
Exactly 3 :45 p. m. we started on the first
leg of the trip, the longest, 689 naut.
miles. A 38-hour journey.
The palms and skyline of Miami slow-ly
faded away in the distance. A school
of porpoises followed us for awhile, but
disappeared in the blue-green water. A
lifeboat drill was held and after that you
were on your own.
WHAT'S life aboard like? Every
night you were given a printed schedule
of next day's activities. And believe me,
there was activity! There were two
lounges of which the "Rodolfo" was the
beehive of entertainment. It seated at
least 250 persons. There were two or-chestras
and several bars had piano music.
There was something going on every
hour of the day, if you cared to attend.
For those who liked gambling there were
slot machines, black jack, bingo, horse
racing, etc. For sports fans a swimming
pool, skeet shooting, table tennis, golf,
etc. A gift shop, beauty shop, style shows
(Continued on page 3)

Issues of this journal created before 1989 are in the public domain in the United States. Issues of this journal created after 1989 are provided for educational use, and may be used for non-commercial purposes when a statement of credit is used. For more information, contact SwensonCenter@augustana.edu.

Issues of this journal created before 1989 are in the public domain in the United States. Issues of this journal created after 1989 are provided for educational use, and may be used for non-commercial purposes when a statement of credit is used. For more information, contact SwensonCenter@augustana.edu.

Official Journal of the American Union of Swedish Singers
(USPS 368-840)
Vol. LXXIV CHICAGO, ILL., FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1980 No. 2-3
The Caribbean Cruise in Retrospect
If you are an armchair traveler we
invite you to ta\e the Caribbean cruise
with us on the "Happy Ship" Boheme.
- EDITOR.
THE ALARM CLOCK began to hol-ler
at the ungodly hour of 5 o'clock in
the morning of January 26. This in order
to be at O'Hare Field, Chicago, about 8
o'clock. In the meantime 1 had to fix the
bed, shave and clean up, get breakfast,
last minute packing, etc. Then pick up
a passenger, drive to the West side and
park the car for a week. It was a raw,
bitter cold morning.
This procedure had been arranged by
my cabin mate to be, Ernie Edwalds,
second basso in the Chicago Sw. Male
Chorus, who stayed over night at his son-in-
law's house. There we were treated
to coffee and toast before we were taken
to O'Hare.
The other passenger? That's a story
in itself. Paul Haglund, AUSS treasurer,
was supposed to go on the cruise, but got
sick and had to cancel his cabin the day
before. Across the street from me lives
Mrs. Helen Wcnnerstrand, widow of the
well known soloist, Werner Wenner-strand.
When she heard there was a
cabin open, she snapped her fingers in
decision, called up Nelson World Travel,
sjot Paul's cabin, packed up and was
ready to be picked up in the morning.
Saving us a penalty.
At the airport we met some 16 fellow
travelers from Chicagoland and headed
for the 747 plane of the Northwest Air-lines.
Boy, what a long walk. Loaded
with baggage! O'Hare might be the
busiest airport in the world, but its ac-commodations
arc not too modern. You
have to walk and that's it. And it would
be our luck that our plane had been
shifted to the International airport. Oh,
for i^ood old Copenhagen -- they have
moving carpets!
INSIDE the plane was like an over-sized
cold storage. The doors were wide
open for loading purposes and the pas-sengers
froze their fringes. All available
blankets were in use. Since I wore a top
A SEAFARING
TALE
of
Stouthearted Men
and Women
By re Olde Scribe
coat I wrapped Ernie in my blanket, too.
He looked like a eunuch! After awhile
he complained about his seat, he was sit-ting
on something bulky. He stood up,
I felt his seat but there was nothing there.
He sat down — same thing! He stood up
again, felt around and came up with a
foolish grin. He had a pint in his rear
trouser pocket. We got warm in a hurry!
It reminded me of a sign in a Mexican
restaurant: "Chili today—Hot tamala."
Soon we were airborne and warmth
prevailed in a few minutes. It was rather
rough and turbulent, even at 37,000 feet
up. After a very severe jolt Ernie quip-ped,
"I hope we don't run into an ice-berg."
Miami lay down there bathing in sun-shine,
a beautiful sight. It was in the
80's when we landed. The Commodore
Ship Line met us with a bus, which took
us to the gleaming white cruise ship
Boheme, which was to be our home for
a week. Everybody disappeared in search
of their cabins, where our luggage al-ready
had been deposited.
BEFORE we talk about the first day
aboard, it might be well to let you know
a little about the trials and tribulations
the Nelson World Travel had to go
through before the cruise was consum-mated.
Originally the cruise was arranged
with the Italian Line's ship, the "Galilei."
Then word came that this ship would re-main
in the Mediterranean and that
"Marconi" would take over the cruise
from Port Everglades and touch at three
ports. Then came the news that only two
ports would be visited. Later the official
news came that the Italian government
had cancelled the cruise for financial
reasons!
This situation would be enough to
send any travel agent to the hospital.
But Martin and Don Ahlm didn't give
up the ship. Through pertinent and dili-gent
correspondence a solution to the
dilemma was found. Otherwise the cruise
would have been cancelled.
The final result of the negotiations be-came
very favorable to the AUSS travel'
ers in that the passenger list was taken
over by the German Commodore Line,
whose ship Boheme sailed from Miami
on the original date. Boheme, being a
more luxurious ship, also was more exx
pensive, but the Line agreed to absorb
the difference in price. Not only that —
the Boheme called on four ports instead
of two. This solution speaks well of the
efficiency of the Nelson World Travel.
Aboard the Boheme
AFTER unpacking everybody scram-bled
up on deck to see the Boheme cast
off and begin the journey to Puerto Plata,
Dominican Republic. While waiting,
sandwiches were served on the aft deck,
where the swimming pool was located.
Exactly 3 :45 p. m. we started on the first
leg of the trip, the longest, 689 naut.
miles. A 38-hour journey.
The palms and skyline of Miami slow-ly
faded away in the distance. A school
of porpoises followed us for awhile, but
disappeared in the blue-green water. A
lifeboat drill was held and after that you
were on your own.
WHAT'S life aboard like? Every
night you were given a printed schedule
of next day's activities. And believe me,
there was activity! There were two
lounges of which the "Rodolfo" was the
beehive of entertainment. It seated at
least 250 persons. There were two or-chestras
and several bars had piano music.
There was something going on every
hour of the day, if you cared to attend.
For those who liked gambling there were
slot machines, black jack, bingo, horse
racing, etc. For sports fans a swimming
pool, skeet shooting, table tennis, golf,
etc. A gift shop, beauty shop, style shows
(Continued on page 3)